Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf , the Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Board of Director of the Public Investment Fund, and Dr Al-Suraisry , the Minister of Transport and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Railways Organization SRO, have signed the Legal Advisory Services Contract for the Saudi Railways Expansion Program with the international London-based law firm 'Linklaters' in association with the Saudi Law Office of Abdulaziz H. Fahd. The Supreme Economic Council of Saudi Arabia had approved the implementation of the Expansion Program and appointed the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) as the executing agency for that purpose. The Expansion Program consists of two new railway projects: (1) the Saudi land bridge, connecting the existing railway network to Jeddah, a distance of 950 kms. Thereby completing the railway link between the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf , with a further 115 kms connection to Jubail , and (2) the Western Railway, a network of 570 kms connecting Makkah , Jeddah , Madinah and Yanbu , that would mainly provide passenger services between the two holy cities via Jeddah . The implementation and privatization of the Railway Expansion Program will be on the basis of the BOT ( Build Operate and Transfer ) model. The BOT concession would grant investors the right to finance, operate the expanded network, and collect revenues for a specified duration after which it would be transferred to the Government . --more 1210 Local Time 0910 GMT
